


The Trouble with Tentacles

by MassiveSpaceWren



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), Marvel
Genre: Avengers Academy - Freeform, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Tentacles, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark/Tentacle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 07:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9312182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MassiveSpaceWren/pseuds/MassiveSpaceWren
Summary: When a bunch of ridiculous would-be magicians arrived at the Academy, Tony decided to show them that he can do whatever they do. A bunch of tentacle monsters wouldn’t stop him, right?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, [ChibiSquirt](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiSquirt/pseuds/ChibiSquirt), for beta and excitement <3!

Tony strode across the campus, towards Avengers Park. He would show that ridiculous Stephen Strange what he could do against his dumb monsters, using science! His sorcerer costume was far superior. It had been tricky to make everything the suit could do work in a flowy robe, but he wasn't a genius for nothing. He was basically wearing the world's most combat-ready bathrobe.

When he arrived, he grabbed his staff and tugged on his beard until it was straight again. Demonic monster in the fountain— no problem. He would _rock_ this.

Tony stomped his staff on the ground, activating the energy barrier that should keep the monster in. He grinned. "You shall not pass!" he yelled, trying to make his voice sound deep and threatening.

Suddenly, a bunch of dark and long tentacles shot from the water, flailing a bit. Tony looked up, ready to fight, trying to gauge their reaction. 

The next thing he knew was that he was dragged up in the air violently. A thin tentacle had crawled towards him and grabbed his ankle, and now the biggest tentacle wrapped around his torso, squeezing him hard. He wheezed, trying to take a breath and failing. The arm slammed him to the ground harshly. His scream of pain broken by the second impact to the stone tiles. The limb wrapped even tighter, choking him. He had let the last of his air escape with his scream, and he couldn't inhale with the tentacle pressing down on his torso. He felt, rather than heard, the sickening crunch of his ribs. The tentacle smashed him to the floor again, before finally letting go and retreating into the water.

Tony gasped, lying on the ground, unmoving. He could finally fill his lungs with air again, but every breath was agony. After just lying there for some time, he finally managed to push himself up on his knees. He winced and tried to carefully touch his ribs, but even the light touch hurt. After trying to slow his breathing and blinking away tears, he swayed into a standing position. 

He stumbled out of the park and closer to the main campus, where Stephen Strange found him.

“How was your first encounter with magic?” Strange asked cheerfully. When Tony turned, Strange's expression changed to worry. “Are you hurt? I mean, more than your feelings.”

Tony scoffed and turned away again. “I'm fine. It's just part of my old wizard schtick.” He just wanted to rest.

Strange kept talking about his wizard things, ranting about the demons. Tony listened halfheartedly, simultaneously redesigning his boot jets, when he realized Strange had just dropped some information about trapping the demons in a spacious and dark place. Tony grinned. 

“I could trap them in my hat!” he shouted, surprising Strange.

“I suppose, but—” Strange started, seemingly unconvinced. Tony waved him away. 

This time he would win.

 

\---

 

Tony walked across quad, trying to get to a space a little less public. He was shuffling slowly, still hurt from the last encounter with a tentacle monster.

Taking off his hat, he looked at it suspiciously. With a deep breath he waved his magical science wand at the hat, hoping to catch one of the monsters in the pocket dimension. He winced when the movement jostled his ribs again.

Moments later, he thought it was done. The inside of his hat looked darker than normal, and if his math was right, there _should_ be a demonic tentacle creature trapped inside.

He was still glancing into the black circle, wondering how he would check if it worked, when suddenly a tentacle shot out of his hat. Tony let out a surprised yell, but it was cut short when the tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him into his portal and through. 

He tried to look around, but couldn't see a thing. Surrounding him was just black... _nothingness_. Sometimes, he thought he could see a light in the distance, but it always vanished when he tried to look at it directly. Weightlessly spinning, he tried to ready his repulsors for when the creature would attack him again.

The first touch at his arm had him whirling around and firing a few shots into the darkness. For a fraction of a second he saw a tentacle, illuminated by the pale blue light of the repulsor. It jerked back, almost like it was flinching. Tony breathed hard, straining to see or hear something, anything.

Something tapped his ankle and Tony shouted. He fired the boot repulsor, and aimed a few shots with his hand down. In the flashes of light, he could see more tentacles curling away from him.

He would _not_ be caught by this monster! Ripping his fake beard and glasses off, he got ready to defend himself. He would fight it until the end, even if that would mean he'd die here, alone in a dark dimension. He couldn't even see the light of the portal he'd come through; even without the creature, he would never find his way back.

He tried to calm his breathing, unsuccessfully. A sudden sound to his right had him spinning wildly and shooting, but he couldn't tell if he even got close.

A tentacle firmly wrapped around his leg and this time, he screamed. He fired a few blasts in the direction and felt a blow glance off his thigh with bruising impact. The creature let out a screeching sound and let go, but before Tony could do anything, tentacles wrapped round his arms, spreading them wide, and curling his fist closed so he couldn’t fire the repulsor, the prosthesis' fingers covering the RT node. The monster's limbs were back at his legs, too, restraining him. He fired a few shots with his boots, but the creature stayed out of his range.

Tony started twisting desperately, but the bonds held fast. The tentacles moved around his legs, and with mortification he realized that they were loosening the boots' straps and taking them off. When he felt one foot slip free, he tried to kick at his enemy, only to miss and flail pathetically. He felt the same movement on his arm, his prosthesis being taken from him. He squeezed his eyes shut and started struggling harder, panic welling up in his chest. Now he was as good as dead.

A moment later, he was suddenly free. He flailed in the weightless expanse of this dimension, somersaulting slowly from his twisting. When his punches only hit air, he stopped and pulled his fist back to cover his body, and pulled the stump close to his chest. What was the creature planning? Surely it would attack again, now that Tony was unarmed.

He reached up to open his robe to let the arc reactor's light shine more into the darkness. The creature had had no problems with finding him before, and maybe he would be lucky enough to see it approach. Tony clung to that small hope even when he knew it was in vain. The monster had been too fast; there would be no time to react once it was close enough to be seen in the light.

As time passed with nothing happening, he couldn't help but calm down a little. He knew he wasn't safe, but he was also exhausted from fighting and being afraid.

He thought he saw movement from the corner of his eyes, and kicked in that direction ineffectively. Without gravity and nothing to brace himself on, he didn't expect his attacks to be all too successful, anyway.

A few more minutes passed— or at least it felt like it; with no light, sound, or even gravity, it was impossible to tell how much time was passing— before Tony caught a glimpse of the creature again. A tentacle was slowly undulating just out of reach, barely visible with the light from the reactor. Tony watched it warily. He had his fist raised, waiting for it to attack. The limb came closer, slowly, and then darted forwards.

Before Tony could react, it patted his fist lightly and then disappeared from view again. Tony pulled his hand back, shocked, and then frowned in confusion. That... did not feel like an attack. It took some time for the tentacle to appear again, but when it did, it stayed just out of reach for a while, and then moved closer. Tony tried to stay calm, but alert. He was still in pain, and lost in this dimension, but he knew that trying to attack again would probably only get him killed. And part of him really wondered what the thing was doing _now_. 

This time, the tentacle stopped close to Tony, but didn't touch him. Tony reached out slowly, fingers barely making contact with the limb, before it flinched back. It stayed close enough that Tony could still see it, though. "What are you trying to do?" he whispered, curiosity overwhelming his fear. 

Another tentacle appeared in the dim glow, and the first one approached again. When Tony touched it, it stayed close and brushed over his hand softly. It then went over his arm up to his shoulder. When it reached Tony's throat, he flinched, and it pulled back to resting on his shoulder again. The next time it moved, it carefully stayed away from Tony's neck.

The creature patted down the rest of him and seemed smart enough to recognize when Tony pushed the limb away from an area he didn't want it in, or just tensed up. When it touched his face, Tony guided the tentacle enough to show it how soft it would have to be so that it was comfortable enough. While busy with Tony, the rest of the creature finally came close enough to be illuminated by the reactor. It seemed to be a ball of writhing tentacles, with no head or face. The center was about a meter in diameter, but the tentacles were easily three times as long.

Tony tried to talk at the creature, but wasn't sure if it picked up more than the mood of what he said, so he mostly kept quiet and patted down the beast in turn. More of its limbs wrapped carefully around Tony, but it didn't restrict him.

A stab of pain distracted him from his tests, the tentacle had found his bruised leg. "Ouch!" he told the creature, trying to indicate that the damaged spot should be left alone. The limb checked his other leg and then returned to the injury, crawling closer slowly. Its touch was so soft now that it didn't hurt. Tony more felt than heard the hum the creature let out, and was surprised when the tentacle on his injury got warmer and pressed down slightly. The pain faded, and a blissful tingling spread out faintly from the wound.

When the being let go of his leg, he checked and saw that the reddened skin had started healing already. "Thank you," he whispered and tried to show his appreciation by petting the tentacles softly, and letting them caress his face. It repeated the process on Tony's ribs, and while they still twinged a little when he twisted experimentally, he felt like he could finally breathe without pain again. 

It wrapped more tentacles around Tony, holding on to him without restaining any of his movements. They stayed like that for a while, curled against each other. How wrong he'd been, afraid of this creature, when it had probably been just as confused as him, at first.

He was happy he'd made a new friend, but he couldn't stay here forever... He had to find a way to get back to the Academy.

Tony started looking around and the creature uncurled from him reluctantly. "I need to go back. You know? The portal you pulled me through? Ah, why am I even talking to you," he said, motioning towards the space around him. He let go of his new friend and tried to float around, but it didn't feel like he was getting far.

A tentacle grabbed his leg again and pulled him back. "No, I can't stay here..." he started, when he saw that the being was holding the gauntlet and his repulsor boots up to him. He put them on quickly and hugged his friend again. "Thank you," he breathed, and tried to hum like the creature had done before.

This time, he carefully pointed the repulsors away from his friend when he started to move. The creature was floating next to him, wriggling around and sometimes overtaking him. Flying around like this was surprisingly fun. He still hadn't caught sight of the portal, when a tentacle tugged on his ankle. He looked down, confused, and then let himself be pulled in the direction his friend wanted to go.

A bit further along, shining in the darkness, was the portal he came through. He could already see the tiles of the Academy's roads. Before trying to go through, he hesitated.

He pulled his new friend into a long, warm hug and tried to say goodbye. He wasn't sure if it knew what was happening. With a final wave, he floated through the portal and landed on his butt when gravity surprised him. He winced but couldn't help laughing quietly. He hadn't thought he'd ever miss gravity.

A tentacle poked through the portal in his hat and for a second Tony was worried it would pull him back. Then it grabbed his hand and a moment later, the creature came pouring through the portal and landed almost on top of him. It pulled him into a hug again, and kept a limb on Tony somewhere as if afraid he would disappear. 

Tony shrugged. This would definitely not be the weirdest thing that happened on campus.

**Author's Note:**

> I remember people talking about a Tony/Tentacle tag, and jokingly saying that I'd want a Tony/Tentacle fic, that is just cutsey relationship stuff, no sex. This kind of is that fic........... :D
> 
> Apparently AO3 has put "Tony/Tentacle" relationship tag as synonymous to "Tony/Others"? How could this happen!? D:
> 
> Anyway. Fluffy tentacle hurt/comfort.


End file.
